The public health usefulness of the exercise recreation and sport survey (ERASS) surveillance system

Background: There is a public health need to monitor habitual participation in physical activity (PA). This report evaluates the usefulness of routine sport and recreation sector collected 'Exercise Recreation and Sport Survey (ERASS)' data from a public health perspective. Methods: The ERASS telephone surveys collected information about participation in any PA undertaken for exercise, recreation or sport and the frequency of participation during the previous 12 months from a random sample of 3,400 Australians (aged ≥15) each quarter. Activities were categorised as Health Enhancing Physical Activities (HEPA) if the activity was of sufficient intensity (METs ≥3.5). 'Sufficiently active' people reported HEPA ≥5 days/week and the sedentary group reported HEPA < 0.5 day/week. The total person-days of PA were calculated and main PA types that contributed to HEPA were highlighted. Results: In 2001, walking accounted for 58% of all HEPA person-days. For females walking (66%), swimming (5.7%) and gym (4.7%) combined accounted for 75% of HEPA days while for males, walking (50%), cycling (8.1%), football (6.2%), jogging (5.6%) and swimming (4.5%) were main contributors. The mean days walked was 2.20 days/week (95% CI; 2.16-2.25) while all other HEPA combined totalled 1.56 days/week (95% CI; 1.52-1.60). Over 12-month period 15.8% of Australians were defined as sedentary and 31% were 'sufficiently active' including 16.8% who reported frequent walking (≥5 days/week). Conclusion: ERASS could supplement informational gaps in current PA surveillance. It provides estimates of long-term PA behavioural habits and informs policy makers about the types of activities that contribute to population health.